13. Sofia #2
I look back at my book, but not before noting that the man has a hat pulled down over his face. Under the hat, he’s got brown hair that goes down the nape of his neck. Another month and it’ll be long enough for a ponytail.
Shit. There are a million possibilities here, and all of them point to someone who knows me and knows I’m with Titus.
“Have we met?” I ask him as I look at the book.
“It’s me. Adam.”
My heart leaps up and I have to restrain myself from turning to him and wrapping my arms around his neck. “The fuck are you doing here?” I hiss. “Titus’s men are probably watching me right now.”
“Yeah… Yeah, I figured.” He leans forward and pretends to tend to the imaginary baby in the buggy. “Had to talk to you, though. I’ve been hanging around the neighborhood in the hopes of spotting you. I heard that Titus has been holding you hostage.”
My heart is pounding loudly in my ears. I want to look around us, make sure we aren’t being watched. “Where have you been?” I ask him, keeping my eyes on my book. “Do you have any idea what’s being said about you right now?”
I see him smile out of the corner of my eye. “Nice to see you again, too, Sis.”
I take a deep breath. A billion questions and the one that I most want to ask, I haven’t yet. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he says. “Scared, but fine. I knew you’d be here because I’ve been staking this park out for the past few weeks.
I was kind of hoping that if you were still alive, then maybe…
I don’t know. It’s close to Titus’s property.
I guess I was just hoping that you were still around here somehow.
Then I started to see you come here and…
” His voice is low, but it sounds shaky, uncertain.
“Anyway, I had to talk to you, so I took a chance.”
“This is a big fucking chance,” I say. The thought of grabbing his hand and making a run for it crosses my mind. Then I see Luka playing and I realize that it would mean just leaving him out here by himself.
“So, who’s the kid?” he asks. “He’s making you be a nanny or something?”
“Something like that,” I say. The big question is on my mind at the moment. I sigh and ask him, “Why are you still in the city? I thought you made a run for it.”
“I tried,” he says. “Got to the airport and saw about twenty of Titus’s guys just walking around, casually looking for me. Realized I was fucked, so…”
Oh, no. Please don’t say it. I take a deep breath. “There’s a rumor among the Archangels, you know. Since they haven’t been able to find you, some of them have been saying that you ratted. That’s not true, right?”
He pauses, leaning back on the bench as his eyes dart around us. “This whole thing has been a nightmare, Sof. A real fucking nightmare.”
“Oh, shit, Adam.”
“You don’t know what it was like once they got you.
I had to go back to that motel alone and try to figure out what was next, find somebody I could trust…
There was no one. And like I said, I tried running.
Tried finding some way to move without being seen.
” He shakes his head slowly. “It was just impossible.”
I wonder how hard he really tried or if he made any effort to use his wits at all. Knowing him, I doubt he tried all that hard. “So, you went to the Feds.”
“They found me,” he says. “Turns out you can’t take a major player off the board without getting their attention.
Two nights after I went to the airport, they tracked me down at the motel.
Took me back to their headquarters. I tried to hold out.
I tried to make it seem like they had the wrong guy.
None of that worked. They knew exactly who I am…
and they know who you are and who Titus Malkin is. ”
My entire body gets ice cold. The things he’s saying… he can’t be saying them. “Adam,” I whisper. “Oh, Adam, what did you fucking do?”
“I had to do it. Don’t you get it yet? The Archangels tried to wipe out our family. They are trying to wipe us out too. I’m a dead man if I don’t do something.”
I look over at him. His skin has taken on a ruddy, flushed complexion and his normally shining blue eyes are dulled with dark circles under them. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days.
My heart is breaking seeing him like this. I know that it only happened because I was caught. Adam was never going to be able to handle any of this alone.
“I don’t know what you’ve had to do to stay safe,” he says. “I’ve got a feeling that whatever it was, it’s not something that’s exactly going to be available if the Archangels get ahold of me.”
My stomach swims with sickness at that implication… however true it might be. “There is always another solution, Adam. You’ve put yourself in a situation that’s a million times worse than where you were before—”
“Bullshit,” he says. “Without you, Sof, I’m dead no matter what.
It’s either going to be Titus Malkin because he’s got a hard-on for getting rid of us all or some other Bratva because the word is out that I’m a snitch.
” He looks at me directly for a second, then looks away quickly as if remembering that we are in public. “With the Feds, I’ve got a shot.”
I want to reach out to him, hug him, or at least hold his hand. Tell him that it’s going to be all right, that we’ll figure something out so he doesn’t have to snitch.
“I’m glad I found you here, though,” he says. “At least I can offer you the chance to come with me.”
“Oh, Adam—”
“You still want revenge, right? You still want to see Malkin go down for killing our father? What better way to do that than to testify against him? The one thing that nobody wants are the Feds down their throats. We could bury him—”
“Stop,” I spit the word out almost involuntarily. “Just stop talking. Please.”
I don’t look at him, but I can feel his eyes on me, studying me. Finally, he says, “Ah. So, that’s how it is. Whatever’s going on with you playing nanny for Titus Malkin… that’s a better deal than what I’m offering? Are you serious right now?”
“We don’t break the code of silence, Adam,” I say, my heart filling with dread. “There are a million very good reasons why that is. You cannot win this way.”
“Fine,” he says, cutting me off. “I can’t make you come with me. That’s fine.” He takes in a shuddery breath, then stands up. “Good luck, Sof. I love you.”
I go to reciprocate and he walks off, pushing the buggy toward the park’s exit. I watch him go and whisper to myself, I love you, hoping he catches it on the breeze.